Newt goes nuclear on media

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Newt Gingrich launched into a tirade against the news media at the top of the Republican primary debate here, blasting one television network for airing a damaging interview with his ex-wife, Marianne, and tearing into another for making it the subject of a question in Thursday night’s forum.

Both Gingrich and Rick Santorum worked to put Mitt Romney, the national GOP front-runner, on the defensive throughout the debate, pressing him on his views on health care, abortion and more as both men tried to gain traction in advance of Saturday’s crucial primary showdown here.

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But Gingrich’s early eruption burned away much of the political oxygen for the evening, virtually ensuring that the volatile former House speaker would remain the race’s leading actor in the final days of the South Carolina campaign as well as the star of a super-charged moment of media bashing that will likely earn a spot in primary debate history.

CNN moderator John King directed the first question of the night to Gingrich, asking him if it was true — as Gingrich’s former wife alleged in an interview with ABC News — that he asked for an open marriage in the late 1990s.

Gingrich called that story “false” — and delivered an extended denunciation of ABC and CNN for engaging Marianne Gingrich in the first place.

“I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that,” Gingrich said. “Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things. To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question for a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine.”

He continued: “My two daughters wrote the head of ABC and made the point that [the interview] was wrong, that they should pull it, and I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate.”

The frontal attack on the news media was a familiar ploy for Gingrich, who has frequently attacked the press in Republican primary debates, earning uproarious applause from GOP voters in the process.

King said after the debate that he and Gingrich had a good conversation afterward and that there were no hard feelings. But whether pure theater or not, the use of the tactic in Thursday’s debate — a crucial event that came as polls showed Gingrich gaining strength — left the rest of the Republicans with little choice but to essentially give him a pass on the issue. Santorum and Romney declined to comment on Marianne Gingrich’s allegations directly, as did Ron Paul — who tossed in a passing reference to his 50-plus-year marriage in the process.

“John, let’s get on to the real issues,” Romney told King.

Santorum said there are “issues of character for people to consider,” but added: “This country is a very forgiving country.”

The Gingrich family drama may have overshadowed other dramatic exchanges in a debate that was contentious from top to bottom. Both Romney and Gingrich — the two leading candidates in South Carolina — found themselves on the receiving end of a barrage of criticism.

For Romney, the challenge was staving off a last-minute surge from Gingrich and a heated offensive from Santorum. For all the others, the goal of the night was gaining late traction against the longtime front-runner.

In the second consecutive debate, Santorum became the evening’s most intense aggressor, going after Romney and Gingrich with almost equal vigor on the issue of health care.